A senior Saudi cleric said the Prophet Mohammed's marriage to a nine-year-old girl some 14 centuries ago cannot be used to justify child marriages today, a Saudi newspaper reported Thursday.

The comments by Sheikh Abdullah al-Manie, a member of the Council of Senior Ulema (scholars), followed the marriage of a 11-year-old girl to a man 68 years her senior.

[...]

According to a report last week in Al-Riyadh newspaper, the girl was given in marriage by her father against both her and her mother's wishes. The newspaper reported that the marriage was sealed by a dowry payment and had been consummated.

The father, who took 85,000 riyals (more than $22,000) in dowry, defended his decision to marry off his 11-year-old daughter even though his wife vehemently objected.

"I don't care about her age," he told the paper. "Her health and her body build make her fit for marriage. I also don't care what her mother thinks."

The father added that marriage at such an early age has been a custom in the Saudi society for a very long time and that he saw no reason why it should be a problem now.

The Islamic practice of mahr (incorrectly translated as dowry, it's really "bride price"), where the husband pays for the wife, is responsible for a bunch of issues. It encourages poor families to sell their daughters at a young age. It gives the husband a sense of entitlement ("hey I paid good money for her!") which leads to abuse.

A senior Saudi cleric said the Prophet Mohammed's marriage to a nine-year-old girl some 14 centuries ago cannot be used to justify child marriages today, a Saudi newspaper reported Thursday.

That's a pretty unorthodox stance. Along with the koran muslims look to the sunnah and the hadith. The sunnah includes specific words, practices and actions of Muhammad. Muhammad is viewed as an example to follow. To suggest muslims shouldn't follow part of the example of Muhammad isn't likely to engender a wide following within Islam. It'd be a good first step, but not bloody likely.

8
posted on 01/23/2010 7:59:48 PM PST
by highlander_UW
(There's a storm coming - little kid at a Mexican gas station in The Terminator)

Request to All Arab and muslim brothers and sisters:
Qutubuddin [ Saturday, January 23, 2010 ]
I am a Muslim man belonging to Sunni Sheik Sect in India. We Indian Muslims are poor but hard working. We respect the Arabs and admire them as they are of the same race of Sallaalllah ( Muhammad ) Rasoool. We also gets some donations from KSA for construction of Mosques and Madarsas. Unfortunately certain Old Arab men come to poor Slums in Hyderabad, Mumbai etc of India and marry Young Muslim girls by bribing the QASI and this marriage is done only for one day and the next day the poor girl is left back in her mother’s home and with some money. These old Arab men will burn the private parts of these poor girls with cigarette and even torture them. The marriage will last for maximum 1 week. These starved Indian Poor Muslims have no option but to push their poor girls in to LEGALIZED PROSTITUTION. THIS IS DONE BY TAKING THE NAME OF ALLAH AND ISLAM> ALLAH PLEASE FORGIVE US AND PROTECT US FROM THESE TYPE OF EVIL ACTS. HUMBLE REQUEST TO ALL ARAB BROTHERS AND SISTRES : PLEASE DONT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN, DONT DEFAME ISLAM, FOLLOW PROPHET MOHAMMEDAN AND HOLY QURAN I AM SORRY IF I HURT SOME PERSONS FEELING

"I don't care about her age," he told the paper. "Her health and her body build make her fit for marriage. I also don't care what her mother thinks." I said it before and I'll say it again, where oh where is the NOW gang when you need them? I suppose this is one aspect of the Cloward-Piven theory, to pick and choose fights carefully.

“The problem with outlawing child marriage is that Mohammod married a 9 year old, and everything that Mo did is supposed to serve as a guide for ideal conduct”

One of the comments below the story was a muslim saying that madmo waited until she reached puberty before he had sex with her. See what a nice man he was??? How these people can fall for the islam shit is beyond me. None of it makes any sense at all. Just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo.

that the Prophet married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old, and then she remained with him for nine years (i.e., till his death).

Hadith Volume 7, Book 62, Number 65: Narrated 'Aisha:

that the Prophet married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old. Hisham said: I have been informed that 'Aisha remained with the Prophet for nine years (i.e. till his death)." what you know of the Quran (by heart)'

The Prophet asked Abu Bakr for 'Aisha's hand in marriage. Abu Bakr said "But I am your brother." The Prophet said, "You are my brother in Allah's religion and His Book, but she (Aisha) is lawful for me to marry."

I used to play with the dolls in the presence of the Prophet, and my girl friends also used to play with me. When Allah's Apostle used to enter (my dwelling place) they used to hide themselves, but the Prophet would call them to join and play with me. (The playing with the dolls and similar images is forbidden, but it was allowed for 'Aisha at that time, as she was a little girl, not yet reached the age of puberty.) (Fateh-al-Bari page 143, Vol.13)

16
posted on 01/24/2010 7:36:17 AM PST
by PapaBear3625
(Public healthcare looks like it will work as well as public housing did.)

The Prophet said to Abu Talha, "Choose one of your boy servants to serve me in my expedition to Khaibar." So, Abu Talha took me letting me ride behind him while I was a boy nearing the age of puberty. I used to serve Allah's Apostle when he stopped to rest. I heard him saying repeatedly, "O Allah! I seek refuge with You from distress and sorrow, from helplessness and laziness, from miserliness and cowardice, from being heavily in debt and from being overcome by men." Then we reached Khaibar; and when Allah enabled him to conquer the Fort (of Khaibar), the beauty of Safiya bint Huyai bin Akhtab was described to him. Her husband had been killed while she was a bride. So Allah's Apostle selected her for himself and took her along with him till we reached a place called Sad-AsSahba,' where her menses were over and he took her for his wife. [...]

The Prophet offered the Fajr Prayer near Khaibar when it was still dark and then said, "Allahu-Akbar! Khaibar is destroyed, for whenever we approach a (hostile) nation (to fight), then evil will be the morning for those who have been warned." Then the inhabitants of Khaibar came out running on the roads. The Prophet had their warriors killed, their offspring and woman taken as captives. Safiya was amongst the captives, She first came in the share of Dahya Alkali but later on she belonged to the Prophet . The Prophet made her manumission as her 'Mahr'[dowry]

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